Police Call for Operationalization of Human Sacrifice Law

Loopholes in the law against human sacrifice and human trafficking are hampering police efforts to fight the crime.

Moses Binoga, head of the police Anti-Human Sacrifice and Child Trafficking Unit, says delays by the Attorney General to operationalize a parliamentary Act on human sacrifice means it is impossible for his unit to mobilize resources to fight crime. He says police now use the law on abduction to prosecute these cases, which does not carry significant punitive measures to deter the crime.

The Attorney General, Kiddhu Makubuya, could not be reached for comment on the progress of operationalizing the new law on human sacrifice.

Cases of human sacrifice in Uganda have been on the rise in the last two years. According to the police, 26 people, most of them children, were murdered last year in human sacrifice. Since the beginning of this year, two new cases have been reported.